Five Countries

"Why would an all knowing God create a creation that He knew would disobey Him?" asked the student.

"You're studying engineering, right?” the man replied. “Well, lets say you’re the best engineer in the world. You've studied hard and know how to make things. You set out to design and build a great machine to help people. How do feel when you've done it? You made a machine that works and it's helping people. How do you feel?"

"I would feel happy and accomplished. I've created a machine that does good work and is helping people."

"So, after a while, the machine is going to break, right? What are you going to do when it breaks down or fails?" the man asked.

"I would fix it. I designed it; I know how it’s supposed to work. I can engineer a solution to get it working again."

“Exactly,” the man replied, "It's the same with God. He created man with a purpose and when we are fulfilling that purpose, He rejoices over us. But man is broken, sin enters the picture and men can no longer live the way they were designed. God is our Creator, He does not need to destroy everything and start over. He created a solution to bring us back so that we can fulfill our purpose. Knowing that we would sin did not stop him from pursuing the joy of creating because he knew that there was a solution for sin that would result in more joy."

This is a testimony that was shared tonight. The man sharing the testimony was the man answering the question, and he shared it to illustrate how the Holy Spirit provides answers to questions that we may not know how to articulate an answer. If I had been asked the question “Why did God create a creation He knew would rebel?” my answer (after wracking my brains and trying to remember to pray for help) would be something like: “For His own glory.” This is true, but I don’t think it is as helpful. The illustration shows more compassion and insight into the answer than my default factual answer. As the man shared this story, God helped me see more of His character and power. This is just a snippet from the fellowship and time of sharing we had at dinner tonight.

My parents had invited four couples over for dinner. Each couple was from a different country. A Persian man, a Malaysian couple, a Brazilian couple, and a family from Egypt all sat around our dinning room, talking, laughing and sharing a meal. We went around the room and at least one person from each family shared either how God saved them or how He is at work in their life. Every one around the table actively reaches out to their community with the love of Christ, and the stories of God's mercy, grace, love, and compassion were overwhelming. This story stuck out in my mind, and I wanted to write it down to remember it.

I am working on a video for my next post. I hope to get that up in the next few days...